I wouldn’t say that here at Beard we stay on top of every new trend that hits the streets, but it helps to try and be aware of what’s going. I look on Hypebeast a lot for style inspiration, as well as browsing the more common design based blogs for news and inspiration. Its so important to try and stay aware, as it not only helps you with producing modern designs, but it also helps you to avoid mistakes that others have made!
Anyway, during one of my recent meanders through the web, I was pleasantly surprised to find something I recognised. In the fashion pages of Hypebeast I came across an article featuring a business that I know called London Undercover. The company was founded by designer Jamie Milestone, who happens to be someone that I went to University with! It’s weird how the same course can lead you down so many different roads! London Undercover have firmly established themselves as a high end fashion brand, with their products placed in Liberty, Harvey Nichols, Selfridges and many more stores, not only in the UK, but across the globe.
Their brand buys into something quintessentially British, not only through their stylish umbrellas, but through the imagery used – from something as bold as baked beans or fish and chips through to more subtle references such as their Orange, Brown, Yellow & Black homage to 1970′s Buses seating patterns. Their most recent product is the Green Line umbrella – a shout back to the Green Line brand, first established in 1930, for coach services linking central London with country towns.
Transport plays a big part if many of the designs, which is unsurprising really, given the original ‘commuter’ nature of the product. Even the typeface used in their logo is a modernised version of Johnston, the typeface created for the London Underground in the early 1900′s. It is a carefully crafted brand, and one which works brilliantly. I’m so pleased for Jamie, as he has created something very special, and the company is going from strength to strength. You should definitely check them out.
It also goes to show that inspiration for design can come from almost anywhere!
R